Gerald McCoy Was Yelled At By Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coaches for Helping Opponent Up

By Connor Muldowney

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the most downward-spiraling teams in football this year. Ever since the whole Josh Freeman controversy that sent the fifth-year quarterback packing, players have been unhappy with the coaching staff and they haven’t been afraid to say it. Former players have even come out saying that playing for Greg Schiano had been awful.

Being a strict, fiery and controlling coach is all fine and dandy if you’re winning game — heck, Tom Coughlin won two titles — but the second you start losing games and you’re still treating players like they are still your property, there’s a problem. Players are supposed to listen to their coach no matter what, but the way Schiano and his staff are dealing with the current Buccaneers players is just unreal.

Case No. 948: Gerald McCoy. Okay, so there haven’t been that many cases of poor coaching by Schiano, but he and his staff are making a mockery of the organization. What does McCoy have to do with this? Well, he was recently on a radio show talking about how his coaches got on him for helping an opponent off the ground after a play. Seriously? Just read what he had to say:

“I had my D-line coaches get on to me the other day. Well, not get on to me, try to get on to me. There’s no way they’re going to get on to me for this. They got upset with me because I helped somebody up. So what. I don’t care. Kiss my butt. Listen, if I want to help somebody, I’m going help somebody up because right on the next play I’m going to knock him down again. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.

That doesn’t change how hard I play. As long as in between the whistles I’m not helping anybody up, it doesn’t matter. So what if I help them off the ground? ‘Good job; we’re out here competing. But as soon as they snap the ball, I’m going to kill you again.’

There’s nothing wrong with that. Everybody’s not like that. If you don’t want to be like that, keep it to yourself. I don’t care. I don’t go tell them, ‘Hey, you’re not doing this. You’re not doing that.’ I don’t care. Everybody does what they do. If I help somebody up, get over it. Get over it.”

This just shows a complete and utter disregard for sportsmanship and the coaching staff should be ashamed of themselves. If guys like Darrelle Revis and McCoy are speaking out against the coaching staff and they are still members of this team, that means one thing: Schiano has to go.